POGO FUN

How To Start A Home Based Carpet Cleaning Business

2008-09-02T08:38:00.002+05:30

A home based carpet cleaning business is a greatly profitable venture. It is a home business that can be started with little finance, experience or skills.

Many millions of homes and offices have wall-to-wall carpeting. Most people will have their maid vacuum these carepets, maybe two to threee times a week. However, carpets, by their very nature, need to be deep-cleaned every three months or so. Most people overlook or are too lazy to do this as a deep clean requires a bit more work and takes a bit longer.

This is where you will come in as a carpet cleaning business. You will provide deep clean services to carpets in homes and offices. A deep clean can be performed with a range of equipment in an number of ways. It is best to chat to a supplier of deep clean carpet products and equipment. They can also teach you how to perform deep cleans with their equipment - there you go, you will then learn how to perform this function to your clients.

You and your crew will be cleaning at clients premises but the entire business can be controlled from your own home. You will need a small work area as well as a small storage area at home. Some office equipment and furniture is a must - so is a telephone. You will need someone to answer phones or you can make use of a phone answer service.

You will probably need someone to assist you with the cleaning as it is physical work - ensure you are up to it too! Later on, as you grow, you can get employees to do the cleaning whilst you go about managing every other aspect and growing your business.

You will also need a small van/utility vehicle or even a small car with a trailer will do - to shunt your crew, cleaning chemicals and equipment around.

The best place to advertise your services is in the Yellow Pages as well as the house and home sections of your newspaper.

Check what your competitors charge and price lower than them.

A home based carpet cleaning business is one of the easiest businesses to start from home. You'll soon see that the intial start-up costs are very minimal and the potential for profit quite astounding. This is a very easy business to operate and one whose services are are always in demand.

Face Value - Do good looks get you ahead?

2008-08-28T19:55:00.000+05:30

Hi guys,

I've red the below article in leading magazine and it was impressed me. so published this article to your view. read it and comment it.

Beauty is not skin deep, at least in the corporate industry. Apart from education, work experience and good interpersonal skills, an additional qualification that sells today in big organization is good looks. Your personal grooming and dress sense can influence your dream job and career advancement. Pria Warrick, president cum executive director, personality Labs, a leading corporate grooming and finishing school says, “Statistics conducted by the Harvard University report that one has to have 15 percent technical skills and 85 percent business skills and social graces to get a job. Today, looks have also become an additional qualification. So one’s appearance and the way you carry yourself are very important.”

A candidate is scrutinized thoroughly when he/she goes for an interview. The human resource department will check to see if you suit the image of the company you will represent. “Though good looks are not the criteria for selection we do look at appropriate dressing and presentation along with an understanding of the work,” Says Pankaj Shankar. Global Head – HR and RMG, Infogain.

Often it seems that those blessed with good looks are better equipped as far as career advancement concerned. Ashok Bahri, Vice President –HR Bharat BPO believes that first impression is the last impression. “good looking candidate with fair competency levels, have a higher chance of growing in their career rather than regular employees. I would prefer a candidate with good personality to an average one, considering both of the have the same qualification and technical skills.”

However, this concept has not gone well with everyone, especially the straightforward, average looking employee.

Take the case of Priya Harish, marketing personnel in a leading software company based in Chennai. “My collegue Aparna and I were short listed for an overseas assignment. Even though I have been in the company for a year more than her, she was selected for the post –all because she is slim, pretty and better looking than me. It really hurt my ego. I feel cheated,” says Priya.

Fair or not fair, it looks that this trend is here to stay and one has to work on look as well, if you want to make a mark in the corporate world. Like Ms Warrick says, “Corporates like beautiful people, the same way they like beautiful offices.”

Start A Courier Agency From Home

2008-08-25T16:24:00.001+05:30

Setting up and operating a courier business from home is an ideal way to make extra money easily. This agency is best run by a couple or, if not, with an employee who can be the driver and admin person. In this way, you will keep all your costs to a minimum resulting in more money in your pocket.

Your courier agency will provide a service to professionals and other businesses by transporting letters, documents, small parcels and packages from one place to another. Essentially, you will provide a light delivery service which is in great demand for items that need to be delivered as quickly as possible - faster than a postal service.

You will start up your business from home and only when you are doing steadily well, can you take up separate business premises. You will need a reliable vehicle or motorcycle with a storage box at the back. You will also need a telephone, someone to answer the phone, some office equipment like a desk and chairs, some stationery, roadmaps, etc. If you have a computer, then it can be utilized too.

Your best clients will be attorneys, pharmacies, accountants, wholesalers, vehicle parts suppliers, etc.

You must remember that marketing your services should be a continuous activity. You will always need to sign on new clients and keep existing ones. This ensures that your customer base grows healthily.

The more customers you can handle, the more profitable your operation will be. Be sure to treat your customers in a professional and efficient manner and be reasonable with your delivery rates.

Go through the phone book and contact as many businesses as possible telephonically. Make an appointment with these businesses and try and sell your services to them personally.

You may also wish to do a small display ad in the Yellow Pages to increase your customer base. Alternatively, small classified ads in the business services category of daily newspapers can do wonders too.

Make Money With Your Own Telephone Answering Service

2008-08-25T16:21:00.000+05:30

These days, there are many one-person small businesses operating everywhere. Most of these businesses are operated from home or a small separate shop or office. Since these businesses are small, most of them only have one employee - the business owner himself.

As a result of this, these busines owners are finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on their business and man the phone at the same time. This is especially true for business owners who work away from their base ie. a plumber who calls on clients and is away from the office.

These businesses require a telephone answering service which provides an effective, low-cost solution. Telephone answering machines are impersonal and many business owners do not like using them. You can provide this service for various businesses from your own home and get paid handsomely for your efforts. Your clients will be the many small businesses in your area.

You need to have a landline telephone that you give these businesses who will provide their clients with this number. Their clients phone you and leave messages. You forward these messages to your clients when they need it. You could aso take down appointments for your clients.

You need to get as many business owners to enlist your services as possible. This should be easy to do as you will be providing a professional service for them that is compulsory for their success.

The best part of this home based telephone answering business is that your costs are nil. You do not makes calls but only receive them. You will use your current home telephone whose rental you've been always paying anyway. You do not need furniture or equipment save for some stationery to write down the messages.

Your best customers will be people involved in a one-person service business like plumbers, electricians, painters, carpenters, builders, etc.

Start An Ad Agency From Home

2008-08-25T16:19:00.000+05:30

An ad agency is an easy business that can be operated entirely from the comfort of your own home. What makes this ad agency appealing as a home business is the fact that there is no capital nor experience required to start it.

An advertising agent running a home based ad agency assists businesses and organizations design advertising material which is then reproduced in the form of ads, brochures, fliers, posters, handbills, business cards - in fact any printed matter a business uses.

Your duties will be to design these on your computer to your client's specifications and had these over for printing or publishing. In fact you provide a complete service so that your client does not have to run around doing these things themselves.

You will need a computer with a good design software program, a printer and telephone. You will also need a section of your home as your home office.

Your client makes contact with you and requests design on a specific job. You complete the job and submit to the client for his/her approval. If the client is happy and does not request any changes, you then book ads on his/her behalf if it's an advertising job or contract the printing to a printer if it's a printing job.

Your client pays you a fee for these services. Some publications offer a discount if the material is done by an advertising agency. If this is the case, then the discount portion becomes your fee.

To get clients who will want to make use of your services, advertise in newspapers, magazines and on the internet. You should also consider taking out ads in business directories and the Yellow Pages.

Make Big Money With Garage Sales

2008-08-25T16:16:00.000+05:30

Fancy yourself a people's person with strong organizational and communication skills? Then why not use these skills in this money making home business. Start a home business arranging garage sales for other people and profit handsomely from people's laziness and junk.

The problem is that most people do not have the time nor the inclination to gather all their unwanted items, organize and stage a successful garage sale. This is where you can grab the opportunity to establish a nice profitable home business operation for yourself.

You will organize garage sales for other people and take a commission of about 20% for everything that is sold. Your duties will involve the planning, pricing of items, salesperson to customers - in fact the entire process till the end.

Before you start, visit a few garage sales and get a feel for the business. Chat to people who hold them and try to get some tips or any useful information you can get about holding garage sales. Also chat with customers - get a feel for their mood, what they are looking for, what they buy, the price they pay, etc.

Next, formulate a marketing strategy - how and when will you market and through which mediums. Generally, a few posters on bulletin boards in shopping centers, store windows and classified ads in local newspapers usually works well for this type of home business opportunity.

Explain to customers that you will provide the full service for their garage sale from planning to executing to closing the garage sale. Explain your price and try to close the deal. Book yourself for the date. Visit the customer beforehand, take an inventory of the items that will be on sale and work with the owner towards reasonable prices for these items.

On the day of the sale, arrive a little early and setup the items. It is a good idea to put up a huge banner advertising the sale, put up many balloons, play some music and maybe get a clown to attract peple who drive or walk by. When people start to arrive, offer them assistance and get them to buy.

Once the sale is over, count the money, take off your commission and give the rest to the client.

Make Money Fast By Renting Mailing Lists

2008-08-25T16:15:00.000+05:30

Anyone keen on making money fast with hardly any work and time should consider starting and operating a home based mailing list rental business.

Mailing lists are essentially names and addresses of prospective mail order purchasers. These are gold in the hands of mail order operators who constantly rent mailing lists from mailing list brokers (like this guide teaches you to become) to use for their mailshot. This is an integral, compulsory part of their business all year round, all of the time.

When you rent out a mailing list, you provide the mail order operator names and addresses for one time use. Usually, these are supplied on sticky labels and are charged per thousand.

To start off, you will need to build up a database of name and addresses. The best way to build up a list is offer some sort of mail order product yourself and save the names and addresses of enquirers to store in your database of this business.

Alternatively, you can advertise some sort of free report and ask people to send in a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE). You take down their name and address from the SASE and then send off the free report as promised in the SASE they sent.

You can also buy unlimited resell rights to mailing lists. In this way, you purchase the list once-off and obtain the rights to rent these lists out as many times as you like.

Once you have obtained at least 5000 names and addresses, store them in your database by category. You can store by zip code, by state, by the types of products they are interested in, etc.

You can now decide on a price you will charge per thousand on sticky labels. You then offer these lists for rental by advertising in mail order publications. Once you get orders, print or photocopy onto sticky labels and despatch to the customer.

This is a simple home business but one which can bring you a nice income stream on a monthly basis.

Start A Profitable Shopping Center Paper

2008-08-25T16:14:00.000+05:30

If you seek a sure-fire home business, then you should consider starting a profitable shopping center paper business that is based at your home. Shopping center papers are a very lucrative, solid home based opportunity that can you earn you a huge income monthly in a very short period of time. It is also an easy home business to run and no prior experience is required.

With a shopping center paper, you will earn an income by selling ad space in your publication. The clients who will buy ads are the businesses that operate in the shopping centers.

The first step with this home based shopping center paper is to locate and target shopping centers where there are a lot of shops and businesses. Concentrate on one shopping center at a time. Each shopping center will have it's own paper serving the immediate surrounding community.

Choose the best shopping center to start. Formulate a name for your paper. With your first paper, you will start with a single tabloid size. Your paper name will go above on the first page as the header.

Then establish how many papers you will distribute. These papers will be distributed free to the communities that are near this shopping center. Contact newspaper printers and get quotes on a printing a tabloid size paper with 4 sides at the quantity you've decided.

Next, determine how you will distribute these papers to home owners. The normal method is to hand-drop these to the home owner's mail boxes. You can either do this yourself or hire people to do this for you.

Now work out your total costs ie. printing, distribution and other costs. Add a markup, which will be your profit, to the total cost figure. Then work out the price you will charge advertisers for space.

Once you have your prices, make contact with these businesses and ask them to advertise with you. You can sell space yourself or hire somebody who is good at selling to do it for you.

All activities of this business can be operated from home, except for the printing which will be contracted out to the printer.

Once you have sold enough ads and taken payment (advertisers pay upfront), you now setup the ads (your printer's graphic artist will assist here) and get the papers printed.

Once printed, you proceed with the distribution in the area you've decided on at the beginning.

In order to expand this business, you can run these papers weekly per shopping center and also take on more shopping centers with each shopping center having it's own paper.

Start A Window Washing Service

2008-08-25T16:10:00.000+05:30

A window washing service business operated from home is the type of business that can make you rich very quickly. It can be hugely profitable even if operated by a single person - be it a male or female. The basic knowledge needed for success in this home business is minimal and easy to learn.

Furthermore, very little investment is required for the equipment needed for this business - in most cases under $100. You also do not need large premises nor storage space making this the ideal business to operate from home.

Although this business will take you to perform window cleaning services at the client's premises, this business is controlled from your own home. You can operate from home forever if you like - if fact it is recommended as this greatly lowers your costs.

You could choose to operate this person as a one person entity where you do everything yourself or you can take on some help. Obviously, if your business starts to grow steadily and your regular client portfolio increases, you will definitely need to employ people.

As far as equipment is concerned, you start with a few buckets, cleaning fluid and some good rags. As you progress, you can consider getting a pressure hose.

This type of service is in great demand anywhere in the world. Windows are universal and by their very nature always get dirty eventually.

We would recommend starting with corporate clients ie. the businesses in your area. Get business cards made and call on these businesses personally. Explain your services, hand a business card and convince them to use you.

It is quite possible to build up a huge client base in a short space of time. The good thing about windows is that they get dirty all the time and need cleaning all the time, so you could provide a monthly service for a monthly fee. This is one of the very few types of businesses where you have an ongoing repeat customer base.

Start A Used Bookstore From Home

2008-08-25T16:09:00.000+05:30

If you're a book lover and have many used books lying around at home, then you can turn this into a nice money earning business from home.

For this home business, you will need a spare room in your home, maybe the study. Install decent book shelves as per your requirement. Then collect all the old and used books of your own. Contact your book club if you belong to one and ask members for all their used and unwanted books. Most will simply give them to you whilst others will ask for a nominal charge.

In order to add to your book stock, you can advertise that you buy old, used or unwanted books. In most cases, you will only pay a small price for these as most people will be only to happy to get rid of them.

As far as stock is concerned, make sure books are about some of these at least:

1. Busines books.
2. How To books.
3. Cook books.
4. Special interest books.
5. Paperbacks and novels.
6. High school, college and university textbooks.

The best place to advertise is on bulletin boards in your area. You could also place some classified ads in your local or community newspaper.

Once you have some decent stock, you can then proceed to stock your shelves, categorizing books according to subject. Then compile a list and attach prices to these books.

When you are ready to sell, then you can start by placing ads on bulletin boards, on the radio and in the newspaper and magazines.

Also place a neat sign outside your house in a prominent position advertising your book business.

Many great, home based book stores also add to their income by providing their books through mail order methods. For mail order selling, have catalogues made and mail to a maling list. You can also start a website, listing all your books and getting orders placed by mail. This is a great way to expand your market by reaching more customers.

How To Get Thousands Of Dollars In Your Mailbox Daily

2008-08-25T16:05:00.000+05:30

Follow this guide to learn how to get thousands of dollars in your mailbox every single day. This incredible home business opportunity requires no experience, almost no financing and can be setup quickly to be operated from your own home without changing your lifestyle.

This home business opportunity involves selling How To books by mail order marketing methods.

The first thing you need to do is create a business name and get a business trading license. A visit to your nearest licensing office will do the trick. These licenses are quite cheap and easy to get.

Next, visit your bank and open a checking account in the name of your business. You need this account to deposit your business funds into on a daily basis.

Next, browse the internet and search for books that are sold with reproduction rights. You can search on any search engine using the keywords "books with reprint rights" or "books with reproduction rights" or "books with resale rights", etc.

Choose from what's available and buy the popular ones. The most popular and better selling books are How To books that show, provide information on or teach people how to make money (go figure).

With these books, you buy just once but get reproduction and distribution rights. Ennsure that this is provided in writing to you by the seller and that there are no further royalties to be paid.

You now rent a couple thousand names and addresses from a reputable mail list broker. You can find them on the internet or in mail order publications. Make sure you buy targeted lists, for example: if your book is about home businesses, make sure your mailing lists comprise of people who have an interest in home business. The more targeted and relevant your list, the greater the chances of sales.

Start with one book at a time. Make a sales letter brochure describing your book. Make this appealing and attractive as this is your "sales piece". The more attractive and convincing a sales letter is, the greater the chances of sales. Dont forget to place your price and an order coupon on the sales letter.

Mail these brochures out to the names and addresses on the mailing list. If your offer was good enough, your sales letter appealing and convincing and your price is right, you will receive orders containing payment sent through the mail and landing in your mail box.

Process these orders. Make a copy of the book and send to the customer. Deposit the funds into your bank account.

You will realize that if you only mail your brochures out once, as a test maybe, you will start to receive orders after some time, orders will first increase gradually, then level off and then drop down gradually to zero. In order to maintain the highest level of orders everyday, you need to mail out your brochures everyday on a consistent basis.

Cash In With Correspondence Clubs

2008-08-25T16:02:00.000+05:30

There are millions of lonely people all over the world. These people are eagerly seeking friendship. Why not satisfy their needs by establishing a correspondence or friendship club. A correspondence club, if operated properly and professionally can bring in thousands of dollars per month to the owner.

What we talk about here is only a friendship/correspondence club and not a dating club. You have to make that distinction clear when you operate this business. Thus your service will only include the facilitation of friendship amongst your members.

The first thing you will need to do is define how your club will operate. Then formulate the rules and regulations you want your members to adhere to. Then draw up a membership pack detailing what activities your club has to offer, your membership price and an application form.

Members pay you a flat fee on a monthly basis. An example of what you could offer would be the circulation of names and addresses (probably dependent on your club's policy), a meeting once a month, bingo nights, dance nights, sports days, etc.

Advertise in classified sections in your newspaper in the personals column. When people respond, send them your membership pack perhaps with some sample pictures of activities, names of members with addresses censored, etc and ask them to sign up for a memebrship.

Once they sign up, you send them a monthly bulletin detailing activities and names and addresses of new members, etc. In fact, you will provide them with a quality membership and make it simple for them to communicate and correspond with your other members.

Once you're up and established, you can start advertising in wider circulating monthly magazines who specialize in friendship etc.

Start Your Own Money Making Ad Sheet

2008-08-25T15:53:00.000+05:30

This is a great opportunity and is perfectly suitable for stay-at-home moms as it requires very little time and is purely administrative in nature.

A money making ad sheet is a few pages that have mail order ads on them. These ad sheets are then distributed to interested members of the public.

When you are starting off, your ad sheet can be a simple A4 page folded in half to look like an A5 with four sides to it. Think of a name for your ad sheet and have that printed at the top of the first page.

Then calculate the remaining spaces and divide them into equal decent sized blocks. Decide on the number of copies of this ad sheet that you would like to circulate. Work out the printing and distribution costs. Add a 100% mark up to this figure and divide the total by the number of blocks you have. Each block will be an ad. The figure you get will be the price you will charge mail order companies to advertise in your ad sheet. Obviously you can add a surcharge for ads on the front and back pages as these will experience more exposure.

At the very beginning, chose good, solid mail order companies. Write to them and offer them a free ad. Then ask them to send the artwork. Place these ads onto the ad sheet and have them printed to the quantity you decided.

Now distribute these ad sheets through the post, dropping in mail boxes, on windshields, etc. After a few weeks, call the mail order companies who you've given free ads to. Ask them to now take a paid ad in your ad sheet.

If you have done a good job at the beginning and distributed your ad sheets in the proper way, these companies would have received responses from their ads. They will definitely want to pay for ads this time round as they can see that your publication is effective for them.

As you gain more exposure and experience, expand your publication by adding more pages and taking on more advertisers. You can shape this into a highly profitable and exciting money making home business.

Make Big Cash With Bumper Stickers

2008-08-25T15:49:00.000+05:30

Have you ever considered earning cash through bumper stickers? Well it is an easy home based opportunity and requires no capital nor experience to start. We'll show you how.

Bumper stickers are often utilized by businesses for marketing purposes in building up brand awareness for their goods. Over the recent years the use of bumper stickers to achieve this has become very popular.

This home business will involve you selling bumper stickers to businesses customized with their ad and/or logo.

You will need to contact bumper sticker printers and find out what they charge for printing bumper stickers. Enquire about prices per quantity and prices for one color through to full color.

Add a decent markup to these prices, which will be your profit. A good markup is about 40-50%. Now build yourself a catalogue file with samples and price lists. A file with plastic sleeve pockets is ideal for this.

Get to your phone and contact businesses in your area and attempt to market these bumper stickers. Offer to visit them to show them samples and price lists. Once you get an appointment, sell the product and close the deal. Your customers will pay you a deposit first. Ensure that the deposit covers the total printing cost so that you don't outlay any money from your pocket for the printer.

Take down the customers artwork for the sticker and hand this over to your printer. Your printer will make a sample. Take this sample to your customer and show him/her. If he/she is happy, then get them to sign an approval form. Then give your printer the go ahead to do the printing.

Once the printing is ready, collect from the printer, deliver to the customer and obtain the balance of payment. Your customers will give out these stickers to their customers in an attempt to advertise and/or create brand awareness.

You could also expand this service to include licence disc stickers.

How To Start Your Own Bulletin Board Service

2008-08-25T15:46:00.000+05:30

Thinking of starting a home based business? Here's another great, legitimate home business opportunity for you to consider.

Start your own bulletin board service and earn extra money by helping businesses and individuals in your area to advertise their products or services. This is a top home based business and it works like this:

Bulletin boards are information boards you see in public places like shopping centers, libraries, etc. People will pay you a monthly fee to have their poster or flier adverts pinned up on these boards.

The first thing you have to do is to find appropriate sites for your boards. Contact shopping centers, grocery stores, libraries and convince the owner's to let you put up a board at their location. You may offer them a small monthly fee for this. Promise them that you will keep the board professional, neat and updated at all times.

Once you have enough sites signed up, you can now make up your own bulletin boards. Cut out corkboards 3 feet by 4 feet and mount it into a 3/4 by 1 inch frame. Then affix a plastic or clear perspex sheet over the whole board, using hinges at the top and a simple cabinet lock at the bottom. Install these at the locations.

Before you install, affix a poster advertising space for rent onto each board. People will see this poster and contact you for advertising on the board.

You charge people a monthly advertising fee. Price your fees an x amount per square inch as people will have various sized posters and fliers that they'll want to pin to your board.

This is a relatively easy home business - simply visit your locations once a week to check up on the boards.

That's the plan - simple and easy and requires little investment, education or training. This could be just what you've been looking for to earn extra cash.

Make A Fortune With Self Improvement Seminars

2008-08-25T15:42:00.000+05:30

Giving self improvement seminars is a very effective work from home based business opportunity. It also requires almost no finance to start.

With this opportunity, your home will be your base so there is no need for you to rent specific business premises.
This business idea is very profitable if done correctly and involves very little of your spare time.

How This Home Base Business Idea Works

People are obsessed with self improvement books. Subject matter like: How To Lose Weight, How To Improve Confidence, How To Be A Strong Salesperson , How To Grow Rich, How To Improve Your Finances, etc are always in great demand. Self improvement seminars based on subjects like these are always sell outs.

To be successful with this idea, you need to be knowledgeable in a certain appealing topic. If you are not already, then you can study from books until you can portray yourself an expert in a field.

You will operate from home as your base for now. You will need a room which is large enough to hold at least fifty people. You will also need chairs and some sort of visual aids to assist you in your presentation.

Once your presentation is ready, you can now advertise for clients to attend your seminar. The best place to advertise is in the newspapers. Radio and television ads are also very effective if you can afford them.

People will phone to book a seat at the seminar. It is always necessary to get them to pay beforehand in order to book a seat.

Another effective marketing strategy is to contact the human resources department of large companies and offer to provide their employees with specific self improvement seminars. This is where the big money is as these companies normally budget for these kind of things which is also tax deductible.

There are millions of people from everywhere in the world who are looking for the opportunity to improve themselves - for themselves, their families, their career, etc and they are willing to pay for it. This is what makes this type of business a hugely profitable venture. You should seriously consider providing such a service in your area. You will be helping people improve themselves and making good money for yourself in the process - it's a win-win situation.

Start A Profitable Dating Service

2008-08-25T15:38:00.000+05:30

This is a high-demand business opportunity that can easily be operated as a home based business. Running a dating service from home has the advantage that it provides your clients with a personal touch. It is also cheaper to operate from home as you don't need to outlay any money for office rentals, parking fees, etc.

What's more, your own home telephone and personal computer can be utilized for your dating service business as well.

However, you will need a spare room to utilize as your office. As this home business will require your clients to meet you face to face, the image you portray should be professional. Perhaps include a comfortable couch or small conference table to your existing office.

This type of dating service we talk about here is an offline (not internet based), personal introductory dating service. It is where you will interview prospective clients, draw up a portfolio for them and attempt to match them with your other members.

Your clients will all have to fill in an application form, submit photos and possibly do a personality profile test with you. You charge these clients a monthly fee to keep them on your books and refer to them any possible matches.

The application form should contain your terms of use which they have to abide by. They will also need to sign a disclaimer indemnifying you from any damages or incidences that may arise - this is standard practice.

As far as advertising your services are concerned, it is relatively quite simple. For best advertising results, make sure you target your clients properly. You may need to separate gender when advertising. For example, you need to place one ad to attract men and another to attract women. The ads should be in high quality magazines who specialize in or write continuously about love and relationship issues.

People responding to your ads will have to make an appointment to see you. You will then explain your services to them and get them to sign up as members.

You will need to keep a database of all members and to constantly perform matching. When you have a match, you will contact the member and let him or her view the profiles. If they are happy, they can setup a date with that person concerned.

Everyone wants to love and be loved. No one wants to be alone. People need company. These are the basic needs of humans and exactly why this type of business opportunity will always be in demand.

Furthermore, people have lost the interest in meeting others in bars, nite clubs, etc. It is just too difficult, very time consuming and not very safe. If they sign up with a service like a dedicated dating service where they choose who they go out with beforehand, they will be able to save time as well as ensure their utmost safety and privacy.

Start A Roommate Finding Sevice

2008-08-25T15:36:00.000+05:30

Here's a solid home based income opportunity for you. Make extra cash on a full or part time basis by providing a roommate finding service from your own home.

This super home business opportunity can be started with little or no capital - it's easy and it works like a charm.

How This Home Business Works

It doesn't matter in which city or state you live in, this type of service is in great demand anywhere. House prices are up and so is the rising price of rentals - in fact rental stock is in such great demand that there is a shortage of it in the market. Due to these factors, many people are turning to shared living arrangements.

The first thing you must do is to setup a small area in your home to be your office. You will need a desk and some chairs as well as a computer with database software.

You will need a business name and a bank account to match. You will also need a business license - check with your local licensing office.

You then start building a database of people who are looking for roommates. You can categorize the stock according to area, prices, special conditions, etc.

Start building a database by contacting people who have spare room and who are seeking roommates. You can find them by putting up posters, handing out fliers or advertising in newspapers as well as on the internet.

You then start advertising to people who are seeking accommodation. You can use the same marketing methods as above.

When accommodation seekers call you, you check your database and tell them what you got available. In other words, you try to match an accommodation seeker to the stock you have on your database.

Once you have a match and the seeker is happy with the terms, then you arrange for them to see the accommodation. If both parties are happy, you can assist in drawing up a lease agreement for them. You get paid a commission by the accommodation provider when the deal is signed.

This home business has great profit potential and room for growth. You can build it up into a fairly large business. Give it a go.

Make Money with a Newspaper Clipping Service

2008-08-25T15:33:00.000+05:30

A newspaper clipping service home business opportunity has been growing in demand and popularity. They are thousands of people around the world that are happily making a great part time living from their own homes. This is a great home based business idea that you should consider.

How This Home Business Works

A newspaper clipping service involves the reading and clipping off of certain important news items. These items are then sorted, catalogued and then sold to businesses. These businesses then use these clippings as a research tool in their marketing efforts. Businesses also use this information to keep pace of what is going on around them and also to keep an eye on their competitors.

How To Start This Home Business

It is quite simple really. You need to start by buying, reading and clipping important news items like:

Births
Deaths
New products
New/Changes to government legislation
New/Changes to taxation issues
New companies/start Ups
Marketing research and trends
Business competitor actions
New property developments

In fact, any news item that holds some value is required.

Sort these clippings and index them according to company, competitor, etc. Once you have at least ten or more items about a specific company, then contact the company concerned and offer to sell them the information. Ask them to set a price they would be willing to pay if you provide them this service on a monthly basis.

Approach as many companies as possible. Look through your local business directory for prospective companies you think might buy your services on a monthly basis. Write to them at first and explain your services to them. If, after 2-3 weeks, you get no response, give them a call and request a meeting with the person who will be charge for making decisions for such research. Attend the meeting with your samples and explain how your service will benefit them. The more companies you get on your books, the more money you can earn from this home business opportunity.

Start A Profitable CO-OP Mailing Service

2008-08-25T15:30:00.000+05:30

Start up and operate a co-op mailing service from home and earn extra money by providing this high-demand service to others. This is a perfect home business opportunity that really works and it's easy to start with almost no money down.

How A Co-Op Mailing Service Works

There are thousands of mail order businesses around. One of the biggest expenses these businesses have is postage costs. These operators pay big money for postage and are always looking for ways to reduce this expense. Here's how you can help them.

A co-op mailing service does the mailing duties of mail order businesses. This involves preparing the mail by affixing address labels on them, stuffing envelopes with brochures, sorting and posting the mail.

The co-op service combines the mail pieces of numerous mail order businesses into each mailing envelope at the same postage as a single piece. In this way each mail order business pays a fraction of the postage price to the service. This results in a postage saving to the business even after the service adds their profit on to it.

How To Get Customers

Getting mail order businesses to partake of your service is easy as they all want to save postage costs. Simply place ads in mail order publications to get customers.

Pricing

Pricing to your customers is normally done per 1000 per brochure inserted. You must add up the labour cost (if you pay people to stuff envelopes for you) and the stationery cost and the postage cost plus any other costs you incur. Then add a mark-up of say 35% to the total cost figure. Then divide the amount by the number of brochures per mailing. This is what you will charge per brochure per thousand for your service. If a customer has two brochures to be inserted, then you charge twice that amount and so forth.

Example - Say you do mailing for 6 business, one brochure each:

Costs Per 1000:

Labor $200
Postage $300
Envelopes $150

Total Cost per 1000 = $650

35% profit = $227.50

Total cost + profit = $877.50

Divide by 6 brochures= $147.92

Thus you will charge $147.94 per brochue per 1000.

Usually the customer will supply the brochures. However, you can also offer to have it printed for them. If this is the case, you will need to connect with a reputable, cheap printing company. Do not forget to factor the printing costs into your calculations above.

If each customer had done the mailing themselves, they would each have paid $650 per brochure per 1000. By signing for your service, they will only pay $147.94 per brochue per 1000. They will thus make considerable savings by using your service. This will be your selling point to them.

Give this great home business opportunity a try. It could earn you thousands of dollars a month.

Sell Books By Mail

2008-08-25T15:26:00.000+05:30

If you desire to start a small, legitimate home based business, then you should consider selling books by mail. This home based business idea is quite lucrative and works great even when operated on a part time basis. This is a great idea for the home business opportunity seeker.

The books we refer to are How-To books as these are usually the number one sellers and are always in great demand. The following guide gives you some ideas on how to start up and operate your own book selling business by mail.

Sourcing the right types of books are the key to success in this business. Concentrate on How-To books as these are easier to sell quickly.

You can approach publishers directly and go through their stock and sift out the ones that appeal to you. In this way, you will buy from the publisher and resell to your customer. Because you will be selling through the mail, you will receive the payment from the customer upon order. You then buy the book from the publisher and send to the customer. In this way, you don't need to outlay any money from your own pocket for stock - you only buy from the publisher when you get the order.

Buying exclusive reprint rights for a specific title is the way to go. In this approach, you buy the exclusive reprint rights just once and receive permission to reproduce and sell as many copies of the book as you like with no further payment to the author. This reduces your costs greatly by allowing to keep all profits you make.

A third approach is to write and publish your own books. This is not as hard as you may think. All of us have some sort of skill that we can write about and sell to others.

Once you have your titles chosen, the next stage would be to test them to see what sells well. Take out cheap ads in magazines or newspapers to advertise your titles. You can also develop catalogues of your various titles and distribute them. Keep the titles the sell well and get rid of the ones that don't.

Once you have a winner title or two, it is now time to take your business up a notch by increasing your advertising exposure for these products. Remember that in this type of business, the more you advertise, the more sales you get and the more money you make.

This home business opportunity is fun and challenging and is highly recommended by most prestigious business publications. Keep testing your titles and optimize your advertising as you go along. Once you discover titles that sell well, you can makes lots of money from selling books by mail. And the best part of this is that you can make all this money from your own home.

Earn Cash From Paper Recycling

2008-08-25T15:24:00.000+05:30

If you're looking for a solid home based opportunity that can earn you a steady stream of cash every week, then why not consider starting up and operating a paper collection and recycling business from your home.

In every town, there is a paper recycling plant. These plants buy waste paper like old newspapers, cardboard by weight from anybody. Locate the nearest plant in your area, pay them a visit and obtain the prices they pay for paper loads and minimum quantities they buy.

Getting Started

You will need a small storage space in your home, preferably a garage or an outside room. You will also need a van or if you have a car and trailer, then that too will suffice.

It is a good idea to get school kids to assist you and you can pay them a small wage.

Operating The Business

The business will be controlled from your own home but you will have to make collection rounds in your area either daily or weekly, depending on the amount of time you have and the quantity of paper you get. Your storage space at home serves as a temporary storage area until you make the trip to the recycling plant.

Advertising And Marketing Methods

The best way to market your business and obtain substantial loads for collection is to form relationships with shops or petrol stations in your area. Make up signs and maybe leave a drum or big bin in these areas as drop off points. People will then know where to drop off their old newspapers.

You can also advertise your collection services in your newspaper, fliers, in message boards, etc.

Okay, this home business will not make you a millionaire but if you approach it sensibly and are prepared to work hard, then you can hope to earn a few thousand dollars per month.

Easy Mail Order Riches From Home

2008-08-25T15:21:00.000+05:30

A mail order home business is by far the most popular home business venture chosen and operated by millions of people worldwide. A home based mail order business is appealing because it is relatively easy to start, there are no major investment in capital to make, space and equipment requirements are minimal and it can be hugely profitable if the right products are chosen and marketed correctly. A mail order business from home is truly a one-man-business.

This guide will attempt to give you a brief overview of how to start a mail order business from home for yourself:

Your Workspace

Since in a mail order business, the sales transaction is concluded by way of advertisement and through the mail, you don't need to set up a fancy shop. In almost all cases, the customer will never visit you but instead place orders through the mail.

A small workspace, perhaps a desk, chair and computer are all that you need.

Choosing The Right Product

Your success or failure in mail order is directly related to the product you choose to market in mail order. Almost any product can be sold by mail order except contrabands, illegal items and foodstuffs, of course. The trick here is to find a product that is relatively light and small, simple to operate and is unique ie. not available elsewhere.

Advertising And Marketing Methods

The biggest expense in any mail order business is advertising and advertising is also the key to success. Depending on the product, you can advertise in newspaper classifieds, newspaper display ads, magazines, TV or on the internet.

You can also purchase or rent mailing lists of prosepective customers and have brochures printed and mailed to these people.

There are two main approaches to advertising. In the first approach you take smaller ads and ask people to contact you for further information. You then send them a brochure or catalogue which includes prices and ordering details. Customers will then place their orders in that way. The other approach is to take bigger ads, put in more information about your offer including prices and ordering details and ask customers to order from the ad.

Licensing And Business Registration

You will probably need a business license for this business. Enquire at your local business bureau. In most cases a license is easy to get and costs very little. You will also need a banking account in the name of your business. You will need this account to deposit payments from customers.

Despatching

The last stage of the process is to fill the customer's order. Make sure you have enough stock on hand and despatch the orders quickly. It is impolite to make your customers wait too long especially after they have already paid you. You may despatch the orders by post or through a courier service.

As your business expands, you can even consider applying for a merchant account with the bank that holds your business account. This will allow you to debit customer's credit cards and you can then even take credit card orders by phone and fax as well.

Make Loads Of Money With Folios

2008-08-25T15:12:00.000+05:30

One of the easiest and extremely lucrative home business opportunities that can be started almost immediately is with folios. A folio is a money-making report. A single report consists of one to two pages of a certain topic - the reports that sell the best and which are in high demand are money-making reports. Here's how this home business opportunity works.

Step 1: Buy Reprint Rights To A Batch Of Reports/Folios

Look through business opportunity magazines or on the internet for reports that are on sale by their authors with reprint rights. Reprint rights give you permission to duplicate and sell the reports in unlimited fashion with no further royalties payable. Stick to money-making reports because these sell fast.

Once you receive these reports, bundle them into sets of ten to twelve in terms of their theme. Set a price per bundled theme and choose one single report that you will want to give away for free - this is used to entice your prospective customers to buy from you as you will see later on.

Step 2: Make Up A Brochure

Now, make a brochure/sales letter to advertise these bundled reports and set a price. Your brochure/sales letter must include an order now cut-out coupon, the price for the reports, method of payment required and an address to send payment and order to.

Step 3: Advertise

Now, advertise the free report you have chosen in the classified sections of your local papers or on the internet and provide your address details. People will send for your free report. Send them the free report and the brochure you have made up in order to get them to order your bundled reports from you.

Step 4: Despatch

Once you receive an order and payment from the customer, make copies of the relevant report bundle and despatch to them immediately. Bank the money.

If you persist with this process and pump profits back into your business so that you can increase your advertising reach, you will find that this home business opportunity can snowball into a very lucrative affair.

Start Up A Bed & Breakfast Business From Home

2008-08-25T15:08:00.000+05:30

If you have spare rooms in your home, then why not cash in by starting a Bed and Breakfast establishment from your home. Bed and Breakfast Inns are fast becoming very popular with travellers who prefer the homestyle atmosphere as opposed to a hotel or motel. Thus, there is a great demand for this type of service.

What You Need To Start

Obviously, you will need to have one or more spare rooms and somebody to do the breakfast if you can't. A telephone and fax machine is a must to take down bookings and respond to customers. If you intend doing Internet bookings, then a computer with Internet connection is a must.

Do up your rooms up if necessary, maybe a fresh coat of paint, a new carpet, some new curtains and bedding and don't forget the towels. Also, a clean, neat toilet and shower is compulsory.

Licensing Requirements

In most instances, if you are running a small, part time operation, you won't need a special license but this may vary from state to state and country to country. It is recommended you check with your local authorities first.

Advertising And Marketing

You can have a small sign made up advertising your B&B and install that outside your house in a prominent position.

List your B&B with your local tourist association. Provide a description of your B&B and maybe with some photopgraphs.

You can also advertise on holiday and tourist websites in the same way as above - you can even start your own website to market your service.

Newspaper advertising, either in classifieds or display is always a good idea.

Running a B&B is incredibly profitable with a very low investment required on your part. You can thus grow this into a comfortable income producing business from your home.